Is anybody else in disbelief that the summer is drawing to an end?! I feel like it only just started. Summer is definitely my favourite of all the seasons. I live for the beach, swimming pools and dining al fresco. I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Mallorca, Spain, as well as in France. One of my friends got married in the south of France and I then traveled to Paris (my first time ever in Europe!) and then to Mallorca to stay with another friend. Keep an eye out for a future post with more details and all the photos. I took so many photos I haven’t even been through them all yet. It’s definitely a good project for a rainy day!
I couldn’t let the summer pass without baking a cherry recipe. Cherries are one of my most-loved summer fruits and I can never get enough of cherry desserts. I love this cherry poppy seed loaf because it’s not overly sweet and has a lovely lemony flavour that goes so well with the poppy seeds. The sugar and lemon zest are rubbed together with your fingers to release the oil in the zest, which in turn gives a richer lemon flavour. Everything is kept wonderfully moist with the addition of whole milk yogurt and the top of the loaf is adorned with a crumbly streusel.
This cake is just the thing to use up the last of your summer cherries. If you don’t have fresh cherries, you can substitute frozen ones. You could also use different fruits in this recipe, such as plums or raspberries.
Cherry Poppy Seed Loaf
Ingredients:
For the streusel:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons rolled oats
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons poppyseeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold & cut into small cubes
For the cake:
1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons poppyseeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Grated zest of 2 large lemons
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs (room temperature)
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt (I used Stonyfield Organic)
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cups pitted cherries (fresh or frozen)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius). Spray a 9-inch (23cm) loaf pan with cooking spray. Lightly dust with flour and tap out any excess.
- Make the streusel: in a small bowl add the flour, oats, brown sugar, poppyseeds, cinnamon and salt. Mix well then add the butter and rub with your fingertips until the streusel is in small pieces. Set aside.
- Make the cake: in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, poppyseeds and salt. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingers. This gets the oils in the lemon to saturate the sugar. Whisk in the oil, eggs, yogurt and lemon juice. Add the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until almost combined.
- Fold in half of the cherries and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Place the rest of the cherries on top and then sprinkle over the streusel. Bake the cake for 60 to 70 minutes, until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Cool cake completely in pan on a wire rack. Once cool, run a knife around the edges and release from pan. To stop the streusel from going everywhere, I placed some baking paper over the top of the cake before turning it out of the pan.
Notes: Cake will keep for up to 4 days at room temperature in an airtight container. Cake can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
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